Mandy Knits a Lot and other musings from a pastor's wife

This morning Dave left the house at 6:30am for a long ride on the Natchez Trace. Last Saturday he parked his truck and rode all that way to Jackson--about 35 miles. The kids and I drove down there to pick him up. This time he was determined to go there and come back. He did it! It took him a little over 6 hours, but he did it. His plan was to eat lunch in Jackson and then head back. But it being a holiday and all, nothing was open. So he bought a candy bar and a drink at the CVS Pharmacy and headed back. Ooo, power food! I don't know what his plan is next, but I'm just glad he didn't quit riding.

Our little side business expanded last week. Screenprinting will still be our main focus and the heart of our business. We added embroidery. This big huge machine is on a table in the spare bedroom. Many hours this week have been spent learning how to design and get things to the embroidery machine. I've messed up several things. I bent the mess out of the pressure foot. A lot of the time, I've spent deciphering the instructions. They were written by Japanese people whose first language is not English. The sentence structure and wordage is off in a lot of places. "Enable to find instruction in the manual." Translation: You can find instructions in the manual. "Frame move." Translation: The frame is about to move; remove the hoop or you'll bend the preesure foot, dummy. (Lesson learned the hard way.) The instruction manuals are full of other things along those lines. It makes for interesting reading, but not so much fun when trying to find how to do somet...

My friend Paige got me hooked on Project Runway in the middle of the third season. It comes on Bravo and if it's on, I watch it. They are on the 4th season and I've seen them all at least 3 times--probably more. Each Wednesday night at 9pm a new episode comes on. They play all the previous episodes all day leading up to the new one. Usually I let Matt watch Nick and Noggin, but he knows that Wednesday is Mom's TV day. I may not be able to watch Project Runway all day, but it stays on the TV. Tomorrow night is the last episode where the designers that are left all are showing their collections at New York Fashion Week. Of course, this is the kind of fashion that normal people don't wear but elements of the stuff comes through into regular fashion and trends. Now I don't know a lot about fashion, but I do know about sewing. To be able to come up with a design, choose the fabric, develop a pattern, cut out the pieces, sew them together, fit a model, finish the garment(...

I decided that today I'd try to finish the bathroom. The main thing I needed help with was the light fixture and the outlet. There were 2 wires coming into the bathroom, not official receptacles, except for the switch. I called my dad to come help me figure out the wiring. He ended up doing all the work because it wired so strangely. So we ran the wires down inside the walls rather than just hanging down from the ceiling. There is an official outlet and a wired in light fixture. The other thing I needed help with was removing the toilet tank so that I could remove the wallpaper from behind it and paint behind it. Dad helped me with that, too. Actually, he did most of the work on that. When I got the supplies from the building supply store in Carthage this morning, I told the man that this bathroom is so small it should be measured in square inches rather than feet. Eight square feet is a generous estimate. I tell people that you can potty and wash your hands at the same time, savin...

Tonight I ran for a longer time than I have ever before. As I mentioned, I have to run in the gym since it's just not a smart thing to go running on the streets at night. I started out with 5 minutes of brisk walking. Then I ran 6 laps, walked 2 laps, ran 10 laps, walked 2 laps, ran 10 laps, walked 6 laps, ran 6 laps, slowly walked 6 laps, then stretched. I'm really enjoying running. The 5K is May 17. Matt calls it "The Race." He's all about Mom winning. He was a little disappointed when he found out Dave was planning to run, too. Not sure why. So for right at this moment, I'm a bit tired. So far, no specific body part hurts. It's just a general tireness. I think I'm entitled.

Do you remember in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding where the dad put Windex on everything? Well, when I was at Zoar, a lady I worked with gave out a Windex tip to several people. They always came back and told her how well it worked. She told them that Windex with ammonia-d would remove wallpaper, but it had to have ammonia-d in it. She said to spray it on the wallpaper and it would peel off easily. There was some amazingly ugly wallpaper in this little tiny bathroom in Matt's room. It was plaid and incredibly ugly. Did I mention that it was ugly? Here's proof. (The first picture is supposed to be turned up, but I couldn't figure out how to turn it.) The wall behind the toilet was this solid plaid and the other 3 walls had the same plaid cut into a border on the top and the bottom. This little bathroom used to be a closet so it is really small. You can wash your hands while sitting on the toilet, if you wanted to. We met the man who was pastor here when i...

When you live in the south, you can only truly judge what season it is by walking outside. Today is in the 70s and I am enjoying the front porch swing. Tomorrow it is supposed to be cold and rainy. People blame it in global warming. It's just part of southern life. ---------------------- At the corner of the block by our house, the town just put up a stop sign. Dave said they did it because I mentioned to the mayor that people fly down this road because they can go for about 5 bocks without stopping. However, probably 60% of the people who pass through this intersection don't even pretend to stop. They don't even put on their brakes. They zoom right through it. Could it be that the one patrolman on duty has better things to do than monitor the stop sign by my house? Probably so. Maybe I should pretend I'm in second grade and start taking names and putting check marks by them. I just wish they would slow down. Maybe I shold talk to the mayor about putting up a speed bump...

Last night I ran more than I ever have before. Ever. Since it was dark, I ran in the gym at church--excuse me, Family Life Center. I walked for the length of "Mr. Pin-Stripe Suit" by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. After that I started a 4 lap walk/6 lap run cycle. I did that about 4 times, maybe more. I lost count. the last song I listen to is something that Randle Lowrance sings. He's the worship pastor at Zoar Baptist Church, where I used to work. Then I stretch for a few minutes. Today, I did a strength training routine from the book "You on a Diet."There's no way I could have run again today. I'll run again tomorrow, but for now, my legs and hips are quite sore.

For people of my generation, there was never a day without TV. My dad remembers getting a TV when he was young. I remember having a black and white TV in my room, but I've never been without one. Usually I can find something on that's decent to watch. However, since the writer's strike seemed to want to linger, I've been a little more hard pressed to find the shows I like. OK, just one show. Some of my favorite things to watch don't really have writers that write scripts. I love What Not to Wear and lots of old shows. But just before Christmas, Dave and I caught a rerun of The Office. We ended up buying all 3 past seasons on DVD. Both of us have watched them at least twice--I've watched them much more. I've watched all the on-line episodes from the website. So it took no time at all to watch them all. But the thing is, there's no new episodes because of the writer's strike. They want more money for new media, like on-line episodes and DVDs. That'...

After a 2 day break from running, I jumped back in again. We've got a 9/10 path of road that we run. Today I ran almost as much as I walked. I covered the path 3 times. That's 2.7 miles. I covered it in about 35 minutes. According to Runner's World, the first 2 miles of running is the hardest to work up to. After that, adding more miles is not as hard. I'm not sure if I believe that or not. The first 2 are hard, but I'm guessing that others are just as hard. For now I will try to run/walk for at least 30 minutes each day. I really want to be able to run the entire 5K. I'd really like to win. Matt wants me to win a trophy. I'd rather have a cash prize. Maybe, I'll at least get a t-shirt.

These are a few pictures of my new computer bag made from my favorite old polo. This is how I did it, if you are interested: 1. I put the shirt on one last time and determined that I would no longer wear it ever again. 2. I folded the shirt in half (tail to shoulders) and put my laptop on it to determine where the side seams would go. I marked those spots with pins. 3. Then I unfolded it and sewed across the front of the shirt near where the bottom front of the new bag would be and where the bottom back would be. This is so that I could use the inside of the shirt for pockets, but keep stuff from going under the bottom of the bag. 4. Then I sewed straight down from top to seam in step 3 on each side of the collar. This is where I will store the power brick. 5. I did the same thing on the back to make pouches for cables and the cordless mouse. 6. I then refolded it and sewed the side seams. I double checked to make sure the computer would fit before I cut. 7. I cut the excess fabric o...

I have this realy great shirt. It's a pale green polo that I got from LLBean. It's official name is seedling. About a year or more ago, it got splattered with bleach. There are about little white spots on the front, so I couldn't wear it anymore. It's just been hanging in my closet, all dejected and lonely. It's color and fit are so nice that I couldn't bear to throw it away. So in the closet it hung. Until I had an idea to bring it back to life... I needed a bag for my computer. I had seen a picture of a computer bag that someone had made out of an old t-shirt. So I thought, "If it can be done with a t-shirt, wouldn't a polo shirt make an even better one, especially since the color is just great?" So I did. It turned out great. My computer and it's accessories have a home and my favorite shirt got a new lease on life. Whenever I figure out how to post pictures on this site, I'll put one up. It's really cool.

Yesterday was quite a challenge to parenthood. I put Elizabeth down for a nap like I've done everyday for the past year. After I thought she was settled, I went to the shop to burn some screens. Dave called me after an hour because Lizzie was screaming. When I got home, she was still screaming and it sounded like she was in pain. She didn't want me to hold her and she didn't want me to put her down. She couldn't get comfortable in her bed and kept bending and straightening out. About 3:00 she settled down enough to get to sleep. She slept until about 5:00. When she woke up, she started screaming again. After about an hour, I decided to take her to the emergency room at UMC. With all the ovarian problems she had as a baby, I didn't want to take any chances. The surgeon had said something about the ovary twisting and hurting her badly. It would be unconsolably crying. That's what this sounded like. So I threw a few things in a bag and off we went. Dave stayed here...

I'm writing this for my brother Chris, but anyone can read it. When Dave and I were in college (Dave at William Carey and I at University of Southern Miss), we were dating. Dave was working during the day and taking classes at night. I seem to recall that he was going to be unable to attend his nighttime statistics class and was out of absences. So, me being the supportive girlfriend, I went in his place. I told the professor, Dr. David Allen, that I would be there to take notes for Dave since he couldn't be there. He told me that was fine, but there would be no notes. It was a test night. He told me I was welcomed to take the test if I wanted to. So I stayed just for fun. (Dave had to make it up later.) I took the test and knew quite a bit of the stuff on it. It turned it in and went to tell Dave the news. The next week we both went to the stats class. I just had to see how I did. I made a 74 on the test. Not such a great grade, but it was the highest grade in the class. I...

I've been using Dave's iPod when I run and it really makes the time pass faster. Today, Dave took both children when he took Matt to school. I ran while they were out. I walked for aobut 5 minutes to get warmed up. I have a path of 2 square blocks that I ran around. I walked the length of one block and then ran the length of another. I went back and forth like that for about 10 or 12 times. After I was absolutely exhausted from running and felt like I could not bring myself to run another cycle, I walked. The last five minutes I moseyed and it felt good to do so. I think I'm progressing well. I'll probably stick with this plan for a week or so before I try to add too much more running. I'm afraid I'll get burned out if I push too hard. Since I've never run seriously before, I don't want to hurt myself. It's turning out to be more fun than I thought. I'm still sticking to my goal of 5K in 20-25 minutes.

After last night's run, I'm a bit sore. Maybe "bit" doesn't accurately describe how my thighs feel. Jello-ey comes to mind. This morning after I got back from taking Matt to school, Dave and I took Lizzie out in the big stroller and we walked (she rode) for a brisk 30 minute walk. We did about 2 miles. It was brisk and I was tired. I was less sore than before the walk, but now I'm stiff again. I really did enjoy running and I'm going to try to stick with it. I am, however, going to revise my 5K time goal to 20-25 minutes. I figured out the 5 kilometers is 3.1 miles, not 2.5 like I thought. It's going to be great if I can win, but still good if I can finish within my goal.

Today I officially started training for the 5K run in May at the Carthage Square Affair. I've always wanted to try running and now that I've been surgically altered, I can. Since the only time I can get away to run is at night, I'll be using the gym. We are having worship services in the gym while our sanctuary is being renovated. It makes for an interesting walk. I have to dodge pews, piano, organ, pulpit platform, and sound equipment. Tonight I started with a full 30 minutes of walking and running. I warmed up with 6 minutes of walking and then started 2 laps of running and 2 laps of walking for about 20 minutes. I finished with just walking. For not having done anything in a while, I think that was pretty good. My goal is to run the 5K in 15-20 minutes. That doesn't seem too unreasonable. I also want to win, so I'll be pushing myself. After I finish this blog, my next stop is to dig into the Carthaginian archives to find out last year's winners and their time...

This week has been a roller coaster of illness at our house. The week started with Matt waking up about 1 am Monday. I was awakened by the sound of him throwing up beside my bed. After that all stopped, laundry started and child asleep in my bed, I go crawl in Matt's bed, only to discover that he'd thrown up in it, too. So in the dead of night I'm changing sheets so I'll have a place to sleep. Monday being a holiday, I couldn't take him to the doctor. He ran a fever a lot of the day, but didn't throw up again until... Tuesday morning at 2:55 am, we repeat pretty much what happened the night before. Except this night, he made it all the way to our room before he threw up. After cleaning and getting him back to sleep in our bed, I tried to sleep in there, too. His congestion was so back that he was snoring. Who can get to sleep with that?! So I spend the rest of the night on the couch. He goes to the doctor Tuesday morning. He's not got strep, but most likely ...

No, we are not moving to a new house. We are just shifting rooms within the house. This is how it was when we first moved in: BR1: Dave and I BR2: Matt BR3: Junk BR4: Computer and workroom Then Elizabeth was born. Her crib went up in our room since our room was the largest. I also didn't want her crying and waking up Matt. After she started sleeping all night long, we did a little rearranging again: BR1: Matt and Lizzie BR2: Dave and I BR3: Cleaned out and turned into my craft/sewing room BR4: Computer/workroom/junk Now Matt is wanting his own room. Since we are fortunate to have 4 bedrooms, he can. So I've spent the better part of today packing up my craft room so he can have his own room. I've moved all his toys, his bed, and all his other assorted stuff into my former craft room. He can now shut his door and keep Lizzie out of his stuff. Tomorrow, Dave and I will pack up the computer/work/junk room and moved Lizzie into that room. Here's the new configuration: BR1: C...

I've done pretty good with keeping up with the folding. Right now, there is one basketful waiting to be folded, one in the dryerm and one in the washer. I'm working on it.